Hospital staff and other medical personnel, such as paramedics, EMTs and firefighters, for example, often find themselves in a position where they must assist a patient from the ground. For example, in the case of first responders, there are often calls involving a patient that has fallen and cannot get up, or a patient that cannot rise unassisted from a seated or prone position. In such a case, the first responder often has to assist the patient by lifting the patient, which puts the first responder at risk for back injury.
Back injuries of first responders, or other medical professionals placed in the position of lifting patients that need assistance, have many ramifications. Of course, the biggest ramification may be to the injured medical professional. These types of injuries are often lingering, takes significant time to heal, prevents the injured medical professional from fully doing their job, and can sometimes cause permanent damage. These injuries can also take a financial to both the injured medical professional, as well as the organization that employs the medical professional, i.e., government entity, hospital, etc. For example, back injury to a medical professional brings on medical bills, missed work, paid time off to heal from the injury, worker's compensation claims, additional payroll to hire a substitute, disability costs, etc.
In the case of larger patients that may need assistance, often it may take more than one medical professional to perform a lift of that patient. In many scenarios, hospitals may be understaffed, and a task that needs more than one medical professional tasked medical staffing time away from other tasks, and may cause an already understaffed department to suffer further.
A device suitable for assisting medical personnel with necessary lifting activities is required to prevent injuries to medical personnel.